A full
nine weeks since ordering, I've finally received the pair of Hurricanes for my tube monoblocks! These are replacing AudioQuest NRG-1000's. This was the "last, really last" cable upgrade, so my completed (really) loom is:
3x Hurricane (I've had the 1 from wall to Niagara 7000 for months now)
2x NRG WEL (for preamp and phono stage)
2x WEL LP
WEL Sig XLR
WEL Sig RCA
2x Kilimanjaro (double biwire - that makes for a full
pound of PSS silver in these, lol)
The only non-AudioQuest cable I have is the ClearAudio six-stream that's bloody hardwired to their Universal tonearm. And of course a Niagara 7000 anchors everything.
I just listened to my first LP side with the amps' new Hurricanes; it sounds a lot more robust and powerful in the low end, which is working very very well for my system. I mean it's audibly quite significant; there's been a little rattle issue in my right speaker that's a whole lot more noticeable now at same volume with these cords (I'll have to get my tech on it soon). The midrange is incredibly smooth and meaty; seems like solid improvements there too. Feels like I went from a nice sirloin to a great ribeye. Further listening may reveal soundstaging and treble enhancements.
To be fair I've had a lot of things happening at once in my system, so in this round I'm
also hearing the effect of my new SMARTractor, perfectly aligning my ClearAudio/Shelter Harmony to Loefgren-B DIN. I really doubt the re-alignment would be affecting the bass like this, but the image is now dead-center across the whole record and that part's probably from superb alignment.
I'm a happy boyo here; these last few toys have made a difference! Just crappy iphone pics here, sorry (audio makes up 100% of the toy budget):
